by C. C. Wall
Lukas tried to get on topic. “Have you ever seen this girl before, Mayor? Maybe a friend of your daughter’s?”
“Oh no, not with my Elizabeth,” Jonathan assured himself.
Lukas and Chaney exchanged glances with each other as they tried to come up with the best way to handle the situation. They didn’t have to wait long for the silence to be broken as Francine Kensington ran up behind Jonathan, throwing her arms around his neck.
“Jonathan!” Francine gasped, “My God darling, are you all right? I heard and saw the police and I thought the worst…” Her words were finally interrupted by a chilling scream that forced its way out of her mouth, as she laid her eyes upon the corpse of the naked young woman, bent over the large rock. Jonathan reached up to cover her eyes and turned her away.
“Gentlemen,” Jonathan said, “if you don’t mind excusing Mrs. Kensington and I, I don’t think that this ghastly site is something for her eyes.”
“Sure thing, Mayor,” Chaney said, “I’ll just get a statement from you later.”
“I understand,” he said to Chaney, then turned to Francine with his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go home, dearest.”
Lukas and Chaney gave Jonathan a smile and a wave goodbye as he took Francine back up the hill toward their home. The two detectives turned and got their first good look at the victim. Chaney wasn’t an emotional person, but he had never gotten the hang of seeing dead bodies; especially women, especially young ones that had never even had the chance to experience life or follow through with their dreams. Lukas, on the other hand, also didn’t like seeing corpses, but his reason wasn’t nearly as noble as Chaney’s. The reason Lukas didn’t like it, was one of disgust more than anything else. Lukas had seen more corpses than anyone in Black Star Canyon. However, that was just because he used to work in the big city.
Lukas noticed how the deputies were having a hard time doing their jobs. The men were swallowing hard, holding back tears, looking away, retching. Lukas rolled his eyes. “Can anyone do their job today?”
“Lukas, come on now. That isn’t right to give the team crap,” Chaney stated.
“Then should you say something to motivate the troops?” Lukas asked.
“No. No, I won’t and I’ll tell you why,” Chaney said with a stern look. “The day everyone here is desensitized enough to not care when they see the corpse of a beautiful, young girl that had her whole life in front of her, is the day I hand in my badge.”
Lukas accepted the answer. “I respect that.” Lukas looked around, “Is the Sheriff here yet?”
“Doesn’t seem so,” Chaney said. “I don’t think he’s coming either. He hasn’t been up to field work as of late.”
“What about Sue?” Then Lukas noticed something about the victim. “Wait. Doesn’t she look familiar to you?”
Chaney gave her a good, hard look. “Nope. Can’t say I’ve ever seen her before.”
Lukas squinted his eye as he looked at her, trying to place it. “She looks so familiar.”
“This town really isn’t that big. I’m sure you have run into her, here or there.”
Lukas looked defeated. “No. Scratch that. She just looks like that actress…” Lukas snapped his fingers trying to spark the name in his head. “You know...damn.”
“Which actress?” Chaney asked.
“The one from that movie…” Lukas got more frustrated each second that he couldn’t remember. “Damn it!”
“It’s all right. I can’t remember anything like that after a hard night of drinking either. No big deal.” The sarcasm that Chaney was laying on was as thick as an eight layer cake with no frosting.
“Screw off, Chaney. Just forget it.” Lukas pulled himself together and tried to get serious. “Tell Sue and the guys to make sure no one comes near this until it’s clean.”
Chaney agreed. They both turned around and saw one of their many nightmares; they noticed a photographer taking pictures of their crime scene. Chaney yelled as they ran over to him. “Hey! No pictures!”
The photographer said, “One more.” And actually snapped three.
The look on Lukas’s face was enough for him. “Beat it, man!” Lukas growled out. The man jumped back toward his car then smiled, took two more pictures, this time of Chaney and Lukas, got in his car and drove away.
“Just what we need,” Chaney said.
“Who is that little prick?” Lukas asked.
“That’s Jack Hart. He works for the paper,” Chaney said. “News like this is bound to get around fast in a town this small.”
Lukas ran his hands through his greasy hair. “Well, let’s do something productive since we have to be out here right now.” Lukas looked to the surrounding area. “It looks like that besides the mayor’s place, there are two other houses in the area. I’ll take the nice one up the hill with the view. You take the shit hole.”
Chaney shrugged in defeat.
5 - The Kensingtons - An Introduction
The smell of coffee and bacon were still strong in the Kensington household when Jonathan and Francine came back inside. Francine was still hysterical and Jonathan was trying hard to keep her quiet by saying things like “Shhh” and “It’ll be all right dear.” None of these seemed to work very well. They walked into the living room that looked like it had been purchased right out of an Ethan Allen catalog; furniture that seemed posh and fancy but the patterns and designs were so “out-of-style” that they were in real danger of being “in-style” by the time spring hit.
Jonathan sat Francine down in her favorite chair. He kissed her on the forehead and then sat on the arm of the chair beside her. On any other day this would automatically send Francine spiraling into one of her famous rages, but not today. Today, there was a nude corpse, not much older than their daughter, strewn over a large rock, badly beaten and covered in bruises and blood.
Prince Harry ran into the kitchen to lap some water up out of his dish. Jonathan saw the tiny, bloody paw prints along the tile but did not want to worry Francine more. Jonathan grabbed her hand. “Francine dear, you must try to calm yourself. I do not want you to wake Elizabeth. I would rather her actually not see what has happened if possible. I think it would upset her terribly.”
Francine lifted her head out of her hands. She tried to swallow back the tears, and nodded her head in agreement. Her face changed. Not very much, just ever so slightly, as if someone had whispered something into her ear. She looked up at Jonathan and squinted her eyes. “Found?”
Jonathan seemed confused by her one word question. “I’m sorry darling, I do not follow you.”
“You found the body? On your walk?” Francine said in a suspicious tone.
“Yes, dear,” Jonathan answered.
“What the hell were you doing, Jonathan?” Her voice accelerated as she made it through the question. “Walking?”
Jonathan looked troubled. He thought that now might be a good time to bring up the bloody paw prints on the floor.
Meanwhile, upstairs, a gentle breeze made its way through the window, passed the light curtains that danced in the morning sun, and ran right onto the beautiful, porcelain face of Elizabeth Kensington. She took in a deep breath and stretched her arms out before opening her big, blue eyes. Most women spend all day trying to look as good as Elizabeth does when she first wakes up in morning. Long, black hair, full red lips, eyelashes that could come over and smack you from across the room. She was the most beautiful girl in all Black Star Canyon and a perfect trophy for the mayor to show off in photo-ops for the paper.
Her room was a confused place. It was in that odd transformation of being the castle where mom and dad’s little princess sleeps, to the awaking of independence and the death of innocence. For instance, she still had her small white dresser with the hand painted pink bows and ribbons on it, even though in the top drawer, she hid her cigarettes and lighter. The scary rock band poster over her bed was tilted in just a way to hide the crude painting of a pink flying unicorn that her mothe
r had tried to paint for her almost twelve years prior.
When Elizabeth was younger, the smell of Francine’s freshly cooked bacon would get her running down the stairs with a big smile, but on that day, the older, more adult Elizabeth Kensington, slowly swayed as she walked toward the smell of hot coffee. She looked at herself in her vanity and smiled before she reached out for the door knob.
Elizabeth gently dragged her fingertips along the walls in the hallway as she made her way toward the stairs. She would do this as a small act of defiance against her mother, who would scream any time anything touched her white walls, especially fingers and hands. At the top of the staircase, she could hear her father and mother quietly arguing. This was not like her parents at all who for years had practiced an extremely pure form of passive-aggressive behavior. Elizabeth knew something was wrong. She took each step slowly, hoping to be able to hear a little more clearly the closer she got.
Elizabeth’s head just made it around the corner in time to see her father consoling her mother in one their finest chairs. Jonathan saw her immediately. He quickly stood up straight like a solider and smiled the biggest, most absurd smile he could at his daughter. Francine quickly darted into the kitchen. “What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked.
“Elizabeth!” Jonathan exclaimed, “Good morning, sunshine!”
Realizing her father had completely ignored her question, Elizabeth asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing, dear.” Jonathan said with his absurd smile, “Your mother and I were just debating who would get to spend the morning with our special little someone. Guess what? I won! Now, grab your coat, we are off!” Jonathan said as he pointed up into the sky as if they would fly right out of the house.
“That’s great. I want coffee first,” Elizabeth said.
Jonathan ran over and blocked her from seeing into the kitchen. “Now, don’t you think we can stop somewhere in town and have breakfast maybe?” he asked.
“That seems pointless. I can smell the coffee. It smells good. I want our coffee,” she said with sternness, accompanied with an eye roll.
Jonathan stared blankly into her face as he tried to figure out how to fix this problem. “Ah, yes! Coffee!” Jonathan quickly grabbed Elizabeth and swooped her around the long way into the kitchen, circumventing Francine cleaning the floor. He sat her down at the kitchen table with her back to her mother. “Let me get that for you, Princess.”
Elizabeth knew something funny was going on. She also knew that they really didn’t want her to know about it. What these two things added together meant, was that she could pretty much ask for whatever she wanted and get it. She decided to play along, but not without having some fun in the meantime. “Why is Prince Harry out back?” She could hear him whimpering and scratching at the back door.
Jonathan didn’t know how to respond, so just poured her coffee for her without answering. “Milk and sugar, dear?” he said with a smile.
Elizabeth rolled her big baby blues just as her mom said, “Harry made a mess. I’m cleaning it up.”
Harry urinating or defecating on the carpet or tile wasn’t a new thing, but it hadn’t happened in some time. The story was believable enough for Elizabeth. “Both.” She said.
“Excuse me, dear?” Jonathan asked.
“Both. Milk and sugar. Please.” Elizabeth said.
“Ah, brilliant choice, my dear!” He brought her the coffee and absurdity met his smile again. “Now hurry up dear, and grab your coat. We are off to Henry’s!”
6 - The Old Couple On Top Of The Hill
Detective Lukas tried hard as he battled his hangover while hiking up the steep road to the house on top of the hill. He realized that he might have made the wrong choice in letting Chaney walk down the slight grade to get to the little shack. The sun was bright now and starting to burn through the cloud cover and would soon begin to cook Lukas in his dark gray trench coat.
Once he made it to the house, he couldn’t believe how picture perfect it was. He thought to himself, if he ever retired, this was exactly want he wanted. Maybe it was worth the hike while hungover just to see this. In the distance, he saw an old man. “Hello.”
The old man turned and gave Lukas a hard look. Lukas couldn’t tell if the man was blind or just giving him the stink eye. The man opened his mouth and finally said something. “SHOO!” He waved his rake around like a fly swatter, trying to scare Lukas away.
“Excuse me, sir. I am Detective Lukas from the Black Star…”
“SHOO!” The man yelled, swinging his rake. He was slowly making his way toward Lukas. If Lukas had stood there for another thirty minutes, he might have been in some sort of real danger.
“I just want to ask you a few questions.”
“SHOO!”
Then Lukas heard a kind, sweet voice behind him. “Oh, don’t mind that old coot.” It was a little old lady, who looked just like she stepped out of a Norman Rockwell painting. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Lukas looked relieved. “Yes, I’m Detective Lukas from the Black Star Canyon Sheriff’s Department. I was just wondering if you might have heard or seen anything out of the ordinary last night.”
The old woman thought about it. “No, I’m sorry. We go to sleep pretty early around here. Our hearing isn’t what it used to be either, by the way.” She paused, “Did something happen?”
“Nothing to alarm yourself with, just an accident.”
“Any details?” she asked with a little smirk.
Lukas smiled and handed her his card, “If you can remember anything that you think might help us, feel free to call.”
She took the card and looked at it. “Now that you mentioned it, I did hear something last night. It’s probably nothing, but, I did hear a car or a motorcycle, screaming down the canyon last night, maybe around, eleven o’clock? Yes. Eleven. I remember because I woke up in the night and saw my husband’s pills on the night stand still and woke him up to make him take them. He’s always forgetting to take his pills.”
Lukas looked back at her husband, who was still “Shooing” at this point, about fifty feet away. He looked back at the old woman. “Did you see anything?”
“Oh no, it happened fast. Just heard it and thought it strange. Probably nothing. That’s all,” she said with a smile.
“Eleven…” Lukas wrote it down in a notepad. “Thank you very much ma’am. If you think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to call.”
“No problem.” She smiled.
Lukas turned to the old man who was thirty feet away, making progress, “Thank you, sir!” Lukas waved.
“SHOO!” the old man yelled as he swung his rake.
“Damn it! Knock that off and get in the house!” The old woman yelled.
7 - The Long Way To Town
Jonathan and Elizabeth pulled out of their driveway and headed down the canyon. “Daddy?” Elizabeth asked.
“Yes, Princess?” Jonathan said still wearing his absurd smile.
“Why are we going down the road? Isn’t it quicker to get to town if we just go up the road instead?” she asked.
“Why yes it is, you clever little thing! I just want to spend as much time with my little angel as I can today.” He reached over and patted her on the knee.
Elizabeth looked out the window in disgust. She rolled her big baby blues so far up inside her head that even she was worried that they might not come back down. She knew that going this way to get to town would easily put an extra twenty minutes on the trip and wasn’t very happy about it. Elizabeth reached over and turned on the radio, quickly scanning through the very few stations that Black Star Canyon could actually receive. She stopped on the local rock station just in time to catch one of her favorite songs from one of her favorite bands. “Yay!” she giggled out as her mood quickly changed.
“What’s this dear?” Jonathan asked.
“Confession Conspiracy,” Elizabeth answered.
“What’s a Confession Conspiracy?”
“Jason…” Jonathan wracked his mind, trying to figure out if this was really someone he was supposed to know or just someone he should know of.
“Harker! Jason Harker,” Elizabeth said.
“Tom’s son? Tom from the paper?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes, Dad. Tom Harker’s son.”
Jonathan looked very confused. “What is his son doing on the radio?”
Elizabeth looked at him like he was from another planet. “Daddy, Jason’s band is getting really big around town. All the local stations play them now. In fact…” She got a little coy. “Daddy there is something I wanted to ask you.”
“Okay pumpkin, what is it?” Jonathan smiled.
“Well, see, Jason’s band is playing at Cook’s on Friday, and there are supposed to be some big, record company people there to check them out and they are trying to get all their local fans to come out to make a big crowd to impress the big wigs. So I was wondering if I could…”
“I don’t know. How do you even know Jason? Isn’t he a little old for you?” Jonathan asked.
Jason was a little too old for Elizabeth. Well not any more since her 18th birthday last year, but before that, yes, Jason Harker was too old for Elizabeth. Jason was twenty-two years old. He was that cool kid at school that every girl wanted. Elizabeth could remember seeing him in the halls her freshman year of high school, just melting every time he would smile at her. They never really talked though. In fact, most people didn’t talk to Elizabeth. Elizabeth thought that this was because she was cursed. She believed that she was cursed with beauty. She didn’t have any friends. Mainly because, most girls couldn’t stand to be around her because she looked perfect all the time. Boys wouldn’t ask her out because every boy at school thought that she was out of their league, completely unattainable. Due to that, not only was she lonely, but she was forced to interact with her parents and other town adults at various functions here and there. This made her speech, very mature for her age. She knew and talked about things that only adults would talk about. She was an outcast from the start. Plus being the mayor’s daughter didn’t help anything. The only men that gave her the time of day were her teachers. As soon as the flirting started, they would back off. So most of her days and nights were spent sitting on the roof, right outside her window, listening to music and smoking cigarettes, staring into the stars, thinking about how she would leave Black Star and become a famous actress. Sometimes she would think about trying to cut her face up a little bit and make herself a little uglier so that she would fit in. She could never actually pull the razor through her flesh, even though she would sit for hours in front of her vanity watching the point of the blade push on her cheek.